Sia by Josh Grayson

If you were to lose all your memories, would you change into a different person? Would the you that didn't have past baggage be a nicer person or a meaner one? In Sia's case, she turned into a nice person.

Sia opens with the titular protagonist waking up with nothing but an iPod in her hand. Thankfully, another homeless person called Carol helps her out till she is found. And really, the contrast between her life as a homeless person and her life as Sia Holloway, the daughter of an ex-model and a Hollywood producer could not be more different. Unfortunately, Sia also finds out that she's not only popular, but mean. And now she's uncomfortable with it.

The novel is about Sia trying to find herself, and I thought that by getting rid of her memories (by giving her fugue amnesia) was a clever move on the author's part. It let her get rid of past baggage (how else can a person change so easily?) and genuinely become a whole new person. Otherwise, the mean-girl-turned-good story would be much less convincing.

What I would really have liked to have known, but never did find out, was why Sia lost her memories. I thought that it was going to be a plot point, but it never really developed. Her lack of memories does play an important role in the book, but not in the "I'm hiding a terrible secret" kind of way. I suppose that does make a refreshing change, but it's still a loose end.

All in all, this is a gripping book that takes a look at the issue of identity. I read it in one sitting (luckily I didn't burn my lunch) because well, I liked Sia, I like the characters and this book just pulled me in.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review

The Art Of Falling by Kathryn Craft

On Monday, I read Wintergirls (link leads to review), and now, I read The Art OF Falling. The Art of Falling also touches on eating disorders, but unlike Wintergirls, the protagonists refuses to admit she has a disorder - she sees herself as eating healthily.

The book starts off when Penelope falls forteen stories and survives. She ended up blocking the fall from her memory. The book, really, is how she copes with having to leave the dance world, and the events leading up to the fall.

Personally, I found the story interesting, but I didn't like Penelope very much. Yes, I can understand why she's closed off and slightly bitter about things, but she comes across as very self-centered to me. She does change for the better within the book, but first impressions don't leave so easily.

I guess for some reason, I just didn't connect with this book. That's a bit strange to me, because I do like dance (watching that is, I did do ballet before and well, I can't dance at all). But somehow, I never felt fully drawn into the world of ballet. I suppose Penelope's refusal to talk about how she was different made the story less compelling to me. Plus, the novel is on her journey, so not that much emphasis is placed on ballet itself. It's a pity, because I really could have loved this novel.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

Teaser Tuesday - The Madma's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

I came back to Singapore on Sunday (two days ago), and yesterday, I headed for my favourite library to borrow books! Among others, I got The Madman's Daughter. So far, it's an interesting book. My teaser this week comes from page 166 to 167:

"I'd forgotten what I loved about the piano. The precision of the notes and the mathematical intricacy of the notes and measures. It was like a complicated equation that you work out with your heard instead of pencil and paper."

Ok, it's not two sentences, but it's a lovely quote!

Remember, Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB of ShouldBeReading. To participate, all you have to do is to share a two sentence teaser from a book you're reading as well as the title and author.

What is your Teaser Tuesday?

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Note: I've gone back to Singapore! While I will try to keep to the normal posting schedule, please excuse me if I miss a day here and there. 

Wintergirls was a hard to read book. The subject matter is one that, although has not affected me, has affected someone I know. One of my friends in Secondary School once "disappeared" for a term. The first day she disappeared, the whispers had already gone round that she was gone due to an eating disorder. While we were an all girls school where the word "diet" was heard everyday, most of us loved food so much we couldn't think of giving it up.

But yet, we do have a sort of pressure to maintain a certain weight. A blog post from XOJane that made the rounds on Facebook was called "Fat For An Asian:" The Pressure To Be Naturally Perfect. And seriously, I understand the pressure now. The average BMI for girls in my university is 19.

So Lia in Wintergirls, while she is a hard character to like, is a character that I understand. To her, losing weight is a goal, and the thinner she is, the stronger she feels. And so, while she loves her little step-sister, she's just driven by this compulsion to stop eating, and to hide her disorder for fear that she'll be made to eat again. And add that to the fact that her best friend died from bulimia, and you can see why she's haunted by her friend.

The only part of this book that I didn't really like would be the style. I think the author wants to do something like a stream-of-consciousness, but it just feels self-conscious to me. The book worked best when it was just told from first-person, without the stylistic devices. I think that for this book, a simple style would have made the horror of Lia's reality even more stark and the impact greater. Dramatising the book kind of clouded that.

Overall though, it's a thought-provoking book and faces issues that many of us struggle with.